[mams99]

Well, just as I finished our kitchen, we found out that we had to move for my husband's job. Our previous kitchen was mostly Merillat, but we added an Ikea island/penninsula.

Here's our pics of current: FX716108707kitchen.jpg

FX716108708kitchen2.jpg

This is the kitchen I'm 'probably' getting:

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getmedia2.jpg

Ironically, that 42 year old kitchen is in much better shape than most modern kitchens about 10-15 years old. It actually has pull out shelves and everything, but... I want to remove the soffits, would love to get a double oven and a microwave that's not countertop.

Not shown (don't have such a picture) is that there is a single sided butler's pantry right behind this kitchen It's about 5' wide with a traditional base cabinets with tall cabinets above. At the end of the Butler's pantry is a small half bath which we will expand to a full bath into the utility room which is beside it. That laundry room/utility room was 'borrowed' space from the garage (making the double garage a single).

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The living room and dining room in the drawing will be my mother in law's bedroom and living room. Which is why we need to make this 13.5 wide by 35' long area be dining and living and kitchen. Making the butler's pantry into the kitchen would be difficult because of that bathroom there.

I would say, "let's get rid of the hanging cabinets between the kitchen and dinette" but I would lose so much storage space...

Any suggestions for me before I start ripping it all apart in my head?

We'll take out that wall with spindles for sure, but we can't expand (by much anyway) into the dining family room because it's not that big.

Each square is one foot in the photo and these are somewhat approximate as we were measuring while viewing the house.

[fisheggs]

Wow - I really liked how you integrated the different cabinets in your earlier kitchen.

I have to say - for that particular "look", they did it quite well! It's kind of charming. And it has really nice, large windows! That being said, I can definitely see how it may not be something you are interested in keeping for the long term.

Your earlier kitchen had a bit of a modern look and layout (perhaps "transitional" is a better word?). I comment on that because I'm wondering if you'd be interested in nixing the breakfast nook altogether in favor of a long table or sit-down peninsula that spans both that space and the kitchen area. Then you could have a long L-shaped kitchen that stretches all the way to whatever that one bumpout thing is beyond the spindle wall. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you could have a 3-foot wide, 6 foot long island and still have 4 foot aisles on all sides of it.

You have the issue with lower windows there in the breakfast area, but that could also be an opportunity to put in refrigerator cabinets with a bench cushion to have a little reading nook in there.

Actually, if you don't like the idea of a sit-down island (I don't like them because I hate barstools), I think that you could have room for that island as all storage (deep cabinets backed with shallow), plus a banquette with table near the window. That would be SO much storage!!! I bet you'd never miss those hard-to-access uppers.

Address: 1100 Broadway Mall Hicksville NY 11801 Telephone: 516-681-4532 Store hours: Monday - Thursday 10am - 9pm Friday 10am - 9:30pm Saturday 9am - 9pm Sunday 10am - 8pm IKEA Store Directory Entry for IKEA Hicksville

[NBeth]

Hi!

If you can move that window I'd say do a "wall of tall" with oven across the back wall (against the utility), then cooktop where the sink is now and sink and dishwasher on the peninsula. Now you can take out the uppers above that area because you've got new storage elsewhere. Consider making the peninsula double sided so you have storage on both sides.

[mams99]

I thought about doing a wall of tall on that back wall (I think it would look great), but removing or moving that window is a real issue because the house has 42 year old aluminum siding. It would show, for sure that way.

And... don't you lose a lot of space with separate oven and stove top.

One thing we have decided to do is to expand the bathroom behind it into where the butler's pantry is and then move the butler's pantry in that utility room and spruce it all up. The only cabinetry (and butler's pantry) is TOTALLY functional, so I would just use the old stuff for the spill over of the kitchen - which there will be as I bake a lot and cook a lot and have tons and tons of gadgets.

My dream would to have a brick oven outside to bake breads, but that's probably not going to happen so a stove that bakes bread well is a MUST.

[jonshepi]

You could do a banquette of drawers to get some more storage if you decide to take down some uppers.

[mams99]

Well, it seems now it not when I will be getting a new kitchen. I kept playing around and playing around with the layout and I don't see a better way to do it except for putting a slide in range in the middle of the peninsula facing the dining/living area. I also learned, because of space needs, I'll be losing the 24" wide pantry in the hall way and the butler's pantry behind the kitchen to expand the 1/2 bath to a full bath. That means I just HAVE to keep the cabinets over the peninsula.

That was blows #1 and #2. Then, we mocked up a floor plan and directly over the kitchen two bathrooms. Those soffits probably aren't empty and then, while I could modernize the look by removing the soffits, i wouldn't actually gain much (if any) space because of needing to cut around the piping.

In the end, I like, "then what's the point of taking down the exisiting cabinetry?" While it's original to the house (I think), it's very, very good quality and there's nothing wrong with it AT ALL. If all I'm doing is replacing like for like, what's the point of that?

So... I'll save us thousands of dollars now and tons of work and keep the old kitchen. I'll rip out the avocado green (and damaged) formica countertop and install granite or silestone, tear out the worn linoleum and put down a laminate floor, and then add a fun backsplash, perhaps some crown molding around the soffits and tops of the cabinets and just get really nice appliances and live with the old cabinets.

The green in me feels better about this anyway. So... I guess IKEA can't rescue me this time. Now... is there a site like this one that can help me with updating old stuff? I would love some more ideas than what just pops into my head!

[NBeth]

You can still come here--maybe move to the decorating forum? Anyway, there are Ikea laminates, Ikea backsplashes, Ikea fabrics for fun curtains, etc. . I'd suggest taking down that scalloped thing over the windows, updating the cabinet hardware, ditching the wall paper and rail posts, and possibly investing in one of the aftermarket "rollout" cabinet upgrades in the biggest cabinet so you get some functional big drawer space. Best of luck!

[mams99]

We are going to take down the spindled wall, the wall paper, the flooring, the countertop and put in a nice backsplash and better lighting. I actually like the hardware on the cabinets. They look better (cabinets too) than the pictures show.

The cabinets already have roll out shelves (metal... kind of like cooling racks), so it probably would be easy to retro fit something.

In the mudroom there is a matching desk, so I'll try painting that to see how it can transform. I would really like to be able to put glass in those cabinets over the counter, but not sure how that would work with these sort of paneled doors.

I'll scoot over to the decorating forum if this becomes our house!

[Susan]

Mams - good to see you back! While I'm sorry you won't be able to have the kitchen of your dreams, I'm glad that you'll be able to save money and have a kitchen with good bones.

Our main kitchen is about the same era - not as great space wise, and we certainly don't have any pull-outs or anything fancy like that. When we moved in, we removed all the hardware, and took the doors off and removed the drawers, sanded, primed and painted everything. I too had one of those scalloped wonders over the sink (what was with that idea, anyhow?) - it went in favor of a hanging light. We also replaced the ceiling fan with a pot rack/light combo that solves some of our storage issues.

Eventually, I hope to replace the cabinets and improve the layout/flow of the kitchen, but in the meantime, there's lots that can be done to update and improve the look and feel of the kitchen. We can help!

Susan

[mams99]

I will (for sure) need help with my mud room which will also be part kitchen stuff and part laundry room. Room size is 7'x13' When you need a room to be so multifunctional it's always IKEA to the rescue!

I'll have to look at retrofitting drawers in the kitchen, that would be wonderful. I have NO IDEA what to do with the deep cabinet stuck in the corner with 12" opening and then 24" hidden in an abyss. The outer cabinet of the U faces the eating area,so that's not an issue, but that other one???